Dancing expresses what words cannot
TEACHER by day, professional dancer, choreographer and dance academy owner by night, Sherese Parsad is making her presence felt on the local dance scene.
The 25-year-old runs Sherese Parsad Productions and since its establishment in 2010, she has performed with renowned Bollywood actors and singers.
“I started off doing solo performances at small events. Eventually, other dancers took interest in the work I was doing and joined me.
“Soon enough, we were performing at charity fairs and fund raisers,” explained Parsad.
For some, dance is just a hobby, but for Parsad it is an outlet to forget life’s difficulties and live in the moment.
“It expresses what words cannot. Dance should have some kind of meaning behind it,” she said.
Since her foray into the world of entertainment, Parsad said the journey had been “amazing”, but not without its challenges such as the criticism she received from renowned academies, because Parsad does not charge for her lessons.
She said that the criticism served to galvanise her efforts, and worked even harder to prove the naysayers wrong.
Parsad of Verulam was diagnosed with a rare and possibly fatal auto-immune illness in 2013. “My love and passion for dance kept me going and I fought my illness until I beat it,” she said.
Parsad specialises in Bollywood dancing as she finds it the “most exciting”, but she does incorporate an array of dance forms when choreographing shows.
Her productions usually comprise mixes of Bollywood, hip hop, contemporary and classical routines.
Parsad will perform in Swaziland on June 16 and she has also been approached to entertain in India, during December.
Glitz, glam and rubbing shoulders with Bollywood’s elite has become a lifestyle for the dancer who has since met and performed with famous personalities such as Sonu Nigaam and Shreya Ghoshal.
Some of the academy’s previous collaborations have been with with Mika Singh, Benny Dayal, Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan and Mamta Sharma and over 30 ZeeTV actors, some of whom have since become movie stars, like Sushant Singh Rajput.
Her most memorable events thus far, apart from meeting Bollywood singers and actors, have been performing at the Tafta old age homes for their Christmas party in 2010.
“Seeing the joy and happiness that I brought to their faces reduced me to tears.”
Parsad’s dance career has taken her to many exotic places. She has performed on board the MSC Sinfonia and also on the Portuguese Islands. Locally she has graced stages at the Wild Coast Sun, Golden Horse Casino, Sibaya iZulu Theatre and the Durban ICC. Much of her success is owed to Showtime Promotions. She said the entertainment company had given her her first international gig to showcase her talent, and she still continues to feature in their productions.